Promote Your Newsletter
An old-school approach to promoting your newsletter in the real world and online
In a previous Fictionistas Zoom call, we met Ryan Woldt, who had a ton of amazing and unusual ideas for promoting our Substacks. We were so excited by what he shared that we asked him to write a guest post for us. We know you’re going to be blown away.
All I want to do is write the thing about the stuff!
Why doesn’t the world come to find it? I HAVE THINGS TO SAY!
Also, how do I get paid!
I ask myself these questions all the time. Often with a few curse words thrown in for effect and varying degrees of rage or resignation. Promoting your writing is not easy. You likely have some combination of Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok accounts already. Maybe, you have all four. Perhaps you have something new that I don’t know about, but social media can become a time sink with diminishing returns. We’re all fighting the algorithms and deciding if we want to pay for ads.
Here are some old-school, affordable, and free-promotion alternatives for getting your newsletter writing out into the world and growing your writing business. Many of these ideas overlap or work best when used in conjunction with each other.
In-person events
Host or participate in an in-person event. Some examples include Maker’s Markets, Meet the Author, Book Club, Writing Club, or Books and (Insert fun thing here). Ask your favorite local bookstore, coffee shop, brewery, or market if you can set up shop.
I write about coffee on Substack. My column is an extension of the Roast! West Coast coffee podcast. I host Meet the Author or Podcaster events at local coffee shops. I might meet 20 people on a good day, but the conversion rate is much higher. Those engagements turn into newsletter subscribers and listeners.
It is always a great day for me. The worst-case scenario is that I enjoy a morning drinking a coffee and chicken-scratching in my notepad. The best-case scenario is that I collect new emails and gain new customers. It is also great for the business. I promote the events on my social channels, and they get free experiential content for their customers. Plus, I often give away stickers or pins or bookmarks in exchange for someone adding their email to my subscriber list, so the customers walk away happy too.
What do you write about? Is there a way you can reach a new industry by partnering with another business that might be interested in what you do?
Create a media pack
Make it easier for others to promote you and easier to promote yourself. Create a file folder that can easily be emailed or transferred that includes a 1-Sheet, promotional photos, logo (if applicable), examples of your work, and any media attention you may have gotten.
A 1-Sheet is a single page of information that includes relevant links to your work and social media, contact info, and often a glamour photo. It is similar to a resume. I would also recommend including a general media release about your work. Media releases or press releases will include all the same information but in a flashier format. Think paragraphs, not lists. You can hire a PR team to do this, but you’re a writer, aren’t you?
Try to keep it to a single page and include a personalized email. One local newspaper editor shared with me that they receive more than 500 Press releases a week on everything from new restaurant openings to charity events to government policy announcements.
Write an article about yourself. Include all of the above: I write media releases as if they were articles in the newspaper. If I send them to the local newspaper, they could print it as a guest post or assign an overworked reporter who is thrilled that so much information has already been collected for them. Traditional media budgets have been getting cut for decades, and the need for content is real.
This is where the pre-built media pack comes in handy. Include it when you send your Press release. They will have everything they need to do background on you. When should you send a Press release? Anytime you have news about your work, you appear at an event, or you’re releasing a special version of whatever you write about.
It helps to be organized. Do your homework. I keep a color-coded spreadsheet of every local media contact—TV, Newspaper, Magazine, Blog, Radio, Podcast—I have with a note about what they cover, if they’ve covered me or my work in the past, and their social media handles. You’ll need to do a little homework. Most traditional media contacts are available on their respective websites. Add as you go. This living document will need to be updated as your reach grows or media outlets change.
Join forces
This is the next step beyond networking. Once you’ve met some other motivated individuals who have overlapping or synergistic business goals, start collaborating. Create a shared event like a Maker’s Market where you all have the opportunity to reach a new audience or create shared advertising. Do you know when you see that close-up of a Toyota Camry in a sitcom and the star of that show is featured in a Toyota commercial? There is a reason for that. You can reach further if you work together.
Guest posts
What do you think this is? I’m not doing this for fun! I’m hoping you—someone that wasn’t previously aware of me—will check out my coffee podcast newsletter or stumble across one of my books.
Writing a guest post may expose you to a new audience. You can be strategic when taking on the challenge. Is their audience likely to enjoy or engage with your work? Do they make an effort to promote their work and guest posters? If so, go for it, but make sure they agree to link back to your work.
The same benefits apply when offering guest post opportunities to other writers. If you do have a guest post written for your newsletter, make it easy for them to promote it. Remember that media pack you created earlier? I bet you can repurpose some of those items. Provide your guest writer with the assets they need to share your newsletter on their social channels, and if it seems merited, you might send out a Press release about the collaboration.
After all of these old-school ideas, I have one that might be considered new-school, and it is an underutilized online tool.
Set up a Google My Business profile
This one is a bit outside the box, but it works. Google Business profiles are paired-down versions of a Facebook page that link to your website.
The benefits here are numerous. It is easy to repurpose content from your social media feed or website. Linking to your writing in a “What’s New” post helps create established links from Google to your work which will help improve where you show up in someone else’s Google search. You can create “Offers” to directly sell your work or direct google users to a place online where they can buy your work.
When you set up your profile, you will be asked for your business address,* and your business will be displayed on Google Maps, creating another opportunity for exposure if your writing is a business. The Google profiles also offer great analytics that you can tie into your website, giving you an edge if you decide to do some paid advertising.
*If you don’t feel comfortable having your business on Google Maps, you can hide your address in the profile, delete it after set-up, or choose not to verify it.
Add your ideas for newsletter promotion in the comment thread!
Ryan Woldt is an author, podcaster, side-hustler and sometimes writes guest posts for other Substack newsletters. His most recent novel, Future Eli & Future Jane, was recently featured in the San Diego Union-Tribune, and more importantly, his Mother-In-Law gave it 4-stars after reading it on her Kindle. He hosts the Roast! West Coast coffee podcast and writes the companion Roast! West Coast newsletter featured on Substack.
Thanks for sharing, Ryan! I exhibited at comic-cons all the time before the pandemic, and they were amazing for getting email signups - over 100 in a typical weekend.
Hey, this is really great. Informative and helpful. Thanks for sharing!